• Defence Notes

  India and Australia forge closer maritime co-operation

  8th June 2020

  Australia and India elevated their bilateral Strategic Partnership of 2009 to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership through a virtual summit held between Prime Ministers Scott Morrison …

• Defence Notes

  Organisational and ministerial changes bode ill for MoD

  1st July 2020

  The Whitehall machine is undergoing yet another session of tinkering in an effort to make it more efficient and coherent: at least, that is the …

• Training

  NATO holds live-fire air policing drills over Baltic Sea

  27th April 2020

  NATO has held its Exercise Ramstein Alloy 20-1 air policing drill to train air crews in procedures and coordination between partner air forces. Belgian and …

• Air Warfare

  Dynetics secures DARPA Air Combat Evolution Phase 1

  11th May 2020

  Dynetics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leidos, has secured its role in Phase 1 of the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) programme Technical Area 3 by the …

• Training

  ATAC adds to CASP work

  25th May 2020

  Textron subsidiary Airborne Tactical Advantage Company (ATAC) has been awarded a $34.5 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide contracted …

• Special Operations

  SOF identifies logistics R&D priorities

  17th May 2020

  US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has developed a list of R&D; priorities to facilitate expeditionary logistics operations across future tactical environments. Several priority categories were …

• Naval Warfare

  HMS Ramsey joins NATO minehunting force

  1st June 2020

  The RN’s Sandown class minehunter, HMS Ramsey (pictured on the far right), has joined its NATO counterparts in the Baltic Sea where it will spend …

• Training

  BMT launches virtual warship design training course

  20th May 2020

  BMT Defence and Security in Australia has launched a new e-learning tool about warship design, capabilities and requirements. The Warships 101 e-Learning course is an …

• Naval Warfare

  UK team researches new command space layout for submarines

  21st May 2020

  Dstl and the Department of Transportation Research at Southampton University have built a simulator to explore how the command space in future submarines could be …

• Defence Helicopter

  Sikorsky secures contract modification for USMC H-53K services

  29th May 2020

  Sikorsky on 28 May secured a modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract worth $17.9 million for support services for the USMC’s H-53K fleet. The …

• Naval Warfare

  RFA trio remain in extended readiness as reduced fleet continues to support RN deployments

  2nd June 2020

  A trio of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) support ships, Fort Rosalie, Fort Austin and Wave Ruler (the latter pictured above during more active times), could see their periods of extended …

• Digital Battlespace

  AVT delivers X-MADIS CUAS to DoD customer

  13th May 2020

  Ascent Vision Technologies (AVT) on 13 May confirmed that it had delivered several units of its newest eXpeditionary Mobile Air Defence Integrated System (X-MADIS) to …

• Training

  USN holds operations with RAN in South China Sea

  22nd April 2020

  The USN Pacific Fleet’s America Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) has held joint training operations with their counterparts in the RAN. Exercises began on 13 April …

• Training

  NATO adds C-17 training capability

  15th May 2020

  Boeing has been awarded a $25.44 million firm-fixed-price delivery order to an existing support contract to provide C-17 Globemaster III training devices and spares for …

• Defence Notes

  Reconciled to reality, UK defence peers into the budgetary abyss

  29th May 2020

  The UK MoD looks set to continue its difficult balancing act of capability versus budgetary reality at least until the conclusions drawn up in the …

Programme Results - Defence Insight

• Light attack, Trainer

  Hürkuş-C Advanced Armed Trainer (Turkey)

  The Hurjet-C development programme funding was included in the Hurkus-B procurement contract awarded by  the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence Industries in December 2013.  The Hurjet will ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  IAR-99 Replacement (Romania)

  On 29 August 2017, Leonardo announced that the IAR-99 trainer technology demonstrator (TD) will be fitted with company's Vixen 500E AESA radar. The Vixen 500E AESA ...

• Military helicopters - light/training

  TH-73 Advanced Helicopter Training System - AHTS (TH-57 Replacement)

  Contenders for the competition included the Leonardo single engine TH-119 – a military variant of the AW119Kx – and Bell’s newly upgraded single engine 407GXi. ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - MALE

  Bayraktar TB2 [Kuwait]

  Background Contract Award On 18 January 2023, Baykar announced signing a $370 million export contract with Kuwait for the Bayraktar TB2. According to the announcement, ...

• Military helicopters - scout/light attack

  MD 530F -Kenya

  Crew transition training took place at the MD Helicopters headquarters in Mesa, Arizona, with field service support, armament, and gunnery training scheduled to occur at ...

• Trainer

  Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS)/T-45 Replacement [USN]

  Programme Background Requirements The US Navy’s (USN) Undergraduate Jet Training System (UJTS) programme is intended to replace the troubled T-45 Goshhawk trainer. The June 2024 RFI includes ...

• Trainer

  Joint Terminal Attack Controller (Project Air 6016)[Australia]

  Programme Background Requirements Project Air 6016 aims to deliver a sovereign training system to ensure the sustainable generation of sufficient and appropriately skilled Joint Terminal Attack ...

• Loitering munitions, Military UAS - mini, Military UAS - rotary-wing

  Scorpio 500 [US]

  Background Contract Award In December 2024, XTEND was awarded a US$8.8 million contract by the US Department of Defense (DoD) for its Scorpio 500. As reported by ...

• Fighter - multirole

  F-16V Block 70 (Bahrain)

  Programme Background In 2018, the US government awarded a $1.12 billion contract to Lockheed Martin to produce 16 F-16 Block 70 aircraft for Bahrain, which ...

• Loitering munitions

  Maritime Launched Effects (MLE) [US]

  Background Origin & Requirment The loitering munition effort dates back to at least 2018 and used to be called the Maritime Precision Engagement (MPE). The US Special ...

• Fighter - naval

  Multi-Role Carrier Borne Fighters (MRCBF) [India]

  Programme Background RFI / Requirments In January 2017, India issued an RFI for the procurement of 57 multirole naval fighters. The RFI for the Indian Navy ...

• Military UAS - tactical

  Mi2 Challenge [USN]

  Programme Background Requirements The USN wants a UAV to be flown in austere environments without dedicated launch or recovery equipment; since it would be launched ...

• Military UAS - rotary-wing, Military UAS - small

  Tethered UAS (UK)

  Programme Background Requirements The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking one UAV system, two drones, which operate from a tethered power supply and have the 'flexibility ...

• Light attack, Trainer

  Super Galeb Replacement [Serbia]

  Programme Background Serbia is looking to replace their aged fleet of Super Galeb aircraft from Yugoslavia with a new trainer and light attack aircraft.  According ...

• Military UAS - fixed-wing, Military UAS - small

  Artillery UAV [Thailand]

  Programme Background Requirement & Replacement The Royal Thai Army (RTA) was understood to be seeking a new tactical UAV to replace four legacy Israel Aerospace Industries ...